Herc’s Seen BUFFY 8.3!!

I am – Hercules!! BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER 8.3 FAQ
BEWARE SPOILERS!!
What’s it called?
“The Long Way Home, Part III.”
Who’s responsible?
Script is credited to “Buffy” mastermind Joss Whedon.
What does TV Guide say?
TV Guide is curiously silent on the matter.
The big news?
Renee, the slayer most likely to bone Xander, didn’t quite die last month.
The bigger news?
Dark Willow resurfaces as well.
The biggest news?
As did the first two issues, this one ends with the reveal-y return of a character we’ve not seen since “Buffy” departed the United Paramount Network.
Who is depicted on the final page?
Amy’s boyfriend.
Anyone else reintroduced this week?
Loads of familiar faces. There’s a big one on page two, and two more on page three. (Joss Whedon himself turns up on page eight.)
Does one of those familiar faces belong to Spike?
That would be telling.
Does someone who’s in love with Buffy kiss her this week?
Yes.
Is Xander Harris in love with Buffy Summers?
Again, telling.
Do we learn what Willow’s been up to?
We gets hints. Willow has apparently not been in touch with her fellow Scoobies for some time. We don’t get specifics, but it sounds like she’s been a busy witch.
Is Willow still boning Kennedy?
Kennedy’s disposition is discussed.
Is Willow still playing for the gay team?
This too we learn.
Does Dawn remain economy-size?
At least until next issue.
Do we find out where Giles is?
Not this week, though Giles does put in an appearance.
Is it true we’ll soon be seeing an “Angel Season Six” in the funnybooks?
We will, but Whedon has indicated that the new “Angel” series will not receive the same level of commitment he’s lending the new “Buffy” adventures. He has designated comic-book vet Brian Lynch to serves as the “Angel Season Six” “showrunner.” (I note with some amusement that the “Buffy Season Eight” comics are selling so well that IDW Comics is now billing its new Kirk-Spock “Star Trek” line, launching in July, as “season four” of the original series. No word yet on how Lt. M’Ress feels about this.)
What’s great?
Buffy’s panicky reaction to the scene on page three. The witchy combat generally and Goerges Jeanty’s beautiful depictions of the beautiful Alyson Hannigan in particular. Dawn, finally in receipt of a bona fide superpower. The handling of Bufy’s Big Kiss. The doings in Italy. Xander with Renee. The Willow quip that ends page 17. “Hey! Who kissed me?”
What’s not so great?
Andrew’s visage, surprisingly, continues to prove Jeanty’s Achilles’ heel.
Herc’s rating for “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” 8.3?
*****
As long as you're shlepping down to the comic-book store, note that two other Whedon-scripted comics - Astonishing X-Men #21 and Runaways #26 - also hit shelves today!

almost had it. Anyway, the reveal at the end of this issue was freakin' fantastic. It took me a second to figure it out, but damn! Didn't see it coming. I'm not spoiling it. This is continuing to be a great series. The letters say at the end that the success of the comic so far has prompted Joss to pull back from his 20-30 issue statement, and say it's pretty much open ended and will probably go way past that. Bring it on!

To be fair, I believe the new Trek book made the decision to go as "Season 4" well in advance of the Buffy book coming out. That was in fact the whole point of starting the new Trek book, to fill in the missing years on the original Trek's mission.

To be fair, I believe the new Trek book made the decision to go as "Season 4" well in advance of the Buffy book coming out. That was in fact the whole point of starting the new Trek book, to fill in the missing years on the original Trek's mission.

So far I'm through 52, Buffy, Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness, Shazam: The Monster Society of Evil, and Runaways and haven't had a single book yet not be excellent. I still have many more books to go though.

I'm trying to avoid spoilage here, but, could that instance you just posted here also co-mingle with the OTHER thing Willow was talking about at the bottom of pg. 17. (i.e.: "Only lasted a month")
Hmm, you got me thinkin', Kimosabe

Loved the show at first but it really lost my interest those last few seasons. Besides, that show had a full 7 seasons already, if Joss wants to revisit the Buffy-verse AND his comic writing he ought to get back to Fray, I'd love to read more of that.

but Chuck Austen dreams at night wishing he could erase the CRAP he did on X-Men and be half as good as what Joss has done with them. Same with Liefeld, though maybe Gravy Leg was being sarcastic.
<p> I just don't understand idiots who say 'let it go' or 'this show is old.' As if those are logical arguments just because you don't like the property. You could say that about ANY franchise.
<p> And let's see who else is working on Buffy. Hmm, Brian K. Vaughan - oh yeah, he must be juvenile because he writes about teenagers (but then there's that pesky Y the Last Man and Pride of Lions, among other things. Not so much with the juvenile there.)
<p> I guess the fact that this book is selling out (in the good way), is getting good reviews and each issue does better than the last must bother some people. Or the fact that most people in the biz have praised Joss' recent comic work must really annoy you guys.

Lucky! Where I'm at, only two major stores exist, same guy owns both. He hoards ALL variants...seriously. Won't even entertain selling most of the good ones in the shop, they get slabbed and go on Ebay. Grrr. BUT...Season 8 so far is the tits...can't wait for ANGEL SEASON SIX!!!!! :^)

I was just thinking that now that Joss isn't doing that Wonder Woman movie now (I still think that's a blessing in disguise) why doesn't he get a decent budget and make a movie based off Fray? Or have movies like Aeon Flux and Ultraviolet kind of scared away studios from making any more "women kicking ass in the future" films?

Fray was a mini-series that came out through Dark Horse comics a few years ago. Written by Joss Whedon about a future Slayer named Meleka Fray. Check around for a tpb if you can find it... well worth the read.

with it. It might be the whole "it's a comic, so anything goes" aspect of it (just because you CAN do something, doesn't mean you SHOULD). I think the show's budget limitations might have made them work harder on characterization, maybe. Now, since everyone's familiar with the characters, they can just coast? I don't know. And is it necessary to have every character that ever appeared in the series also appear in the book? And (possible spoiler-related topic ahead), I thought the whole Warren plot was wrapped up kind of nicely in the season 7 ep when Willow "became" Warren. Who knows? It's been a couple of years, maybe I've just grown out of it (and comics). I'll still hope for the best. (Sorry, I'm cranky.)

Me, I read the thing because it's a COMIC BOOK, not a TV show. Pretty good issue, despite some jarring scene transitions (the Giles scene in particular) and a surprise return by skin-free Warren. I get the feeling, though, that he's not the Big Bad for this "season"...or at least I hope he isn't...

Caprica Six would win. Because no matter how many times you kill her, she would be back again and again and again until she won. Buffy has also come back from the dead but it seems to be a much longer, more complicated process.
Also Six could bring all her friends with her, namely Six, Six, Six, Six, Six and ...
She (well a Six) also gave Starbuck quite a beating, so she sure can fight.

Also, it was VERY funny and quite the dig Herc, with the "Buffy mastermind Joss Whedon" line. People still don't quite get it that you think he's really a hack and a no-talent loser, but you have a running bet that you can keep up the charade of pretending to think he's the greatest thing in the world. It's time to just let it go though, you've been doing this for what, 10 years now? Time to move on to something else. It was a good run though, you almost single-handedly keep Buffy on the air with your false-praises, making other weak minded fools think it really was something of substance....all the while laughing your ass off at how gullible people are. Bravo!

I loved Buffy, but this season 8 is really kind of blah. I'm not digging the storyline at all. I guess what I love about Buffy (the metaphors and each episode kind of having a theme) just gets lost or disappears in the comics.

Just kind of makes me glad they ended the show when they did. It's missing that everday-life-is-campy-hell metaphor that made the first couple of seasons so genius. It's called context Joss...find it again.

Thank God for a.b.c.dcp. Anyway, I had pretty much figured it was Warren, so no real surprise there. The Ethan Rayne in the dream caught me by surprise, and it's becoming pretty obvious that Joss loves the character, as he was a big part of the Chaos Bleeds game as well. I disagree about the lack of a 'theme'. I think the title of the arc is telling, but I wanna read the last issue of the arc before commenting further. And you gotta love that the book looks like it was be ON SCHEDULE. If this thing was getting stretched out like Astonishing X-Men, it would be absolutely infuriating. Honestly, I read that latest issue too, and I had a hard time remembering what the hell was supposed to be going on. But I'm liking it so far, though gotta agree with Herc (and probably everybody else)...Andrew looks unrecognizable.

People must not get that you really love Buffy but you pretend to hate it and pretend to be an idiot who doesn't know Buffy has probably one of the most thriving fanbases of any genre property out there. Time to give up the charade and move on.

man...read the first two issues. Nothing happened in the first issue and the second was kinda meh too...Are all comics like this? read for 5 minutes. wait a month. read for 5 minutes. wait a month...etc etc..
Ain't into comics so i don't know.